Page 32 of Winter at Wishington Bay
‘Pros and cons.’
‘Exactly.’ We turned the corner into my road and strolled on. ‘What about you? Do you think you’d have liked living back in Victorian times?’
‘I think it was probably easier for blokes. There were a lot fewer restrictions on them than there were on women.’
‘That’s true.’
‘But bearing in mind my job, I’d be a bit stuck for an occupation, I think.’
‘How did you get into it? I mean, presumably you didn’t just wake up one day and decide you wanted to study plane crashes?’
‘No. Not really. I think, like a lot of positions, it just kind of happened. I have an engineering background in aviation and, of course, I was always interested in ways to make air travel safer. A position arose, I was offered it and I just continued in the same vein.’
‘Gabe didn’t explain exactly but I got the impression you’re pretty high up in it all now.’
Nate glanced away, and I took that as a yes.
‘Do you like it?’
‘It’s interesting.’
I studied him for a moment. ‘Forgive me for saying this, but you don’t seem terribly enthusiastic.’
He lifted a hand, pulling his collar closer to his neck as a breeze whipped down the street. ‘It’s not exactly a subject people like to hear about.’
‘Says who?’
‘My wife… ex…’ What to call her for the moment seemed to confuse him. ‘Anyway. She felt that it freaks people out, hearing about that sort of thing, so…’ he shrugged. ‘She probably had a point.’
I was beginning to see where Nate’s self-belief and confidence had gone. Crushed up in the apparently highly manicured nails of his estranged wife.
‘I somehow doubt you’d stand there and start quoting hideous facts and statistics if someone enquired what you did for a living.’
‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘By now everyone knows that air travel has a very good statistical safety record.’
‘That’s what I mean. And you’ve advised on films and TV programmes, haven’t you? That’s impressive. People love to hear about anything like that. I don’t know why she’d want you not to talk about any of that. I’d be interested to hear it if I were at a party with you.’
He looked down at me. ‘Is that so?’
‘Definitely. And believe me, I’ve been to far too many skull-numbingly boring parties in my time, so I know what I’m talking about.’
‘How come? I mean, how come all the parties?’
‘Umm… oh, my ex-husband was into all that stuff. Social gatherings and so on.’ Nate’s gaze lingered on me for a moment and I tried to act casual. I was aware that my answer had been vague but I hadn’t had time to prepare and I wasn’t a natural liar. He looked back up the street and let it go. Hopefully, he was just assuming that I didn’t want to talk about my ex and that was enough explanation for the wishy-washy nature of my response.
‘Then I wish I’d met you at one of these parties.’
I looked up, smiling. ‘I wish you had too.’
We slowed as we came to Flora’s shop and the door to my flat next to it. ‘Honestly, you have an interesting job. Don’t hide your talent under a bushel.’
‘I thought it was light.’
‘What?’
‘Light. I thought it was don’t hide your light under a bushel. Whatever a bushel is.’
‘It’s a wooden bucket that was used for measuring dry goods. And it is. I was just simplifying things.’
